Railway-brake mechanism.



PATENTED DEC. 1, 1903.

k F. W. CHAFFEE RAILWAY. BRAKEI MECHANISM. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 1, 1902;. I no MODEL, '2 sunn -sum 1.

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PATENTED 1330.1, 1903.

, P. w. GHA-FEEE. RAILWAY BRAKE MECHANISM.

-APPLIOATION FILED SEPT. 1, 1903.

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U ITED STATES Patented December 1, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

AIL AY-BRAKE MECHANISM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 745,569, dated December 1, 1903. Application filed September 1, 1903. Serial No. 171,482. (lie model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANK W. GHAFFEE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Albany, in the county of Albany and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Brake Mechanism, of which the following isa specification.

The invention relates to improvements in railway-brakes; and it-consists in novel means hereinafter described and claimed for automatically adjusting the power of the brakes in accordance with whether the carsare loaded or empty, the power of the brakes being increased when the cars are loaded and decreased when the same are empty.

In accordance with my invention I provide a movable plate or member carried by the car in position to be moved when the material loaded into the car presses upon or against it, and I connect this plate by a suitable rod with the brake-lever connections, so that the movement of the plate may be transmitted through said rod for varying the position of a fulcrum or other feature of such connections, whereby to increase the power of the brakes. The said movable plate or member will also be equipped with a springer equivalent means for moving it in a reverse direction when the car is emptied of its load and the latter has ceased to act upon or against said plate, this movement of said plate being automatically transmitted to the brake-lever connections for decreasing the power of the brakes.

Among other advantages of my invention it may be mentioned that the features thereof may be carried by the car-body and have no connection with the car-truck, whereby such features during the travel of the car are notsubjected to any change in position with relation to each other or to the car-body during the jarring of said body while the car is passing over uneven surfaces.

The invention will be fully understood from the detailed description hereinafter presented, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section through a portion of a hopper-car equipped with brake-adjusting mechanism embodying my invention, such mechanism being shown by full lines in its initial position with the car-body empty and a part of said mechanism being shown by dotted lines in the position it will occupy when the car is loaded. Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section through a portion of a usual form of box-car for car rying freight equipped with brake-adj usting mechanism embracing my invention; and Fig. 3 is a detached top view, partly broken away and partly in section, on the dotted line 3 3 of Fig. 2, of the brake mechanism presented in Fig. 2 for use in connection with a box and coal car.

' In the drawings, 10 designates an end portion of a customary form of steel car having an inclined floor at each end, and 11 a usual brake-cylinder, which is suspended below said endlO by means of a hanger 12 and has its piston-rod pivotally secured to one end of the lever 13, whose other end is pivotally connected with the usual brake-rod 14. The lever 13 is pivotally mounted upon the fulcrum-pin 15, carried by the pivoted bar 16, said pin being movable within the slot 17, formed in said lever 13,and said lever 13 being thus provided with a fulcrum which is movable toward or from the brake-rod 14:, and consequently toward or from the upper end of said lever, where it connects with the pis ton-rod of the cylinder 11, with the result that the power exerted by said lever 13 on the rod 14 and through the latter on the brakes may be increased or decreased in accordance with the position of the pin 15 in the said slot 17, the lowering of said pin in said slot resulting in an increase of the power of the brakes and the raising of said pin in said slot varying the leverage to decrease the power of the brakes.

The bar 16 at its outer end is pivoted to a bracket 18, fastened to a portion of the carbody framing 19, while at its other end the bar 16 is suspended by and pivotally secured to the lower end of a rod 20, whose upper end is pivoted toan actuating-plate 21, which is hanged at one end at 22 to the inclined floor 10 and is adapted to cover an opening 23, formed in said floor. The plate 21 will preferably be provided with the plate sides 24: and end 25, fitting within the aforesaid opening 23 and preventing any coal or other substance loaded into the car from passing through said opening or below the plate 21 prior to the descent of thelatter. Below the plate 21 is secured upon a bracket 26 the spring 27, which exerts its force to turn the plate 21 upwardly from the floor to the position in which said plate is shown by full lines in Fig. 1. When the plate 21 is in its upper position, it holds the rod 20 and bar 16 in their upper position and maintains the fulcrum-pin at the upper end of the slot 17, and the spring 27 will maintain said plate 21 in its upper position at all times except when the coalor other substance loaded into the car covers and by its weight thereon depresses said plate, the latter when depressed assuming the inclination of the floor 10 and holding the rod and bar 16 in their lower position, whereby the fulcrum-pin 15 is maintained, when the car is carrying a load, at the lower end of the slot 17 to increase the power of the brakes. When, thereftre, the car is empty, the plate 21 will be held in its upper position by the spring 27 and the fulcrum-pin 15 will be maintained at the upper end of the slot 17, and when the car is loaded.

the weight of that portion of the load on the plate 21 will overcome the force of the spring 27 and hold the plate 21 in its lower or depressed position and maintain the pin 15 at the lower end of the slot 17. As soon as the car is unloaded, the plate 21 being thus relieved from the weight upon it, the spring 27 will at once return said plate to'its upper position.

ried by the car-body and have no fixed connection with the car-trucks.

In Fig. 1 I illustrate my invention as applied to a steel car of known type; but my invention is also applicable to a box coal-car, as shown in Fig. 2, in which 40 designates a portion of a box-car having in its side an opening 41, over which is secured by a hinge 2 a plate 43, the latter corresponding with the plate 21 of Fig. 1. At one side of the car is pivotally secured a lever 44, whose upper end is pivotally secured to the plate 43 and whose lower end is connected with a rod 45, which extends inwardly below the car-body and carries a pin 46, upon which one end of the draw-rod 47 is mounted and which extends through a slot in the brake-lever 48, the latter being of the customary form and arrangement and being connected with the piston-rod 49 of the brake-cylinder 50. The pin 46 constitutes the fulcrum for the lever 48, and to the ends of this lever 48 are pivotally connected the usual brake draw-rods in common and extensive use. The pivoted lever 44 is equipped with a coiled spring 51, which presses the lower end of said lever outwardly and normally causes its upper end to set inwardly and hold the plate 43 inwardly in the position shown in Fig. 2. When the box coal-car 40 is loaded, the coal or other substance will bear upon or against the plate 43 and close said plate against the opening 41 in the side of the car-body, and the outward movement of the plate 43 will turn the upper end of the lever 44 outwardly and the lower end of said lever inwardly,the spring 51 being thereby compressed and. the rod 45 being driven inwardly, carrying the pin 46 and end of the draw-rod 47 in a direction from the brake-cylinder 50, thereby increasing the leverage-power in the brake mechanism. When the car is empty, the spring 51 will press the lower end of the lever 44 outwardly and turn the upper end of said lever inwardly, and the said lever Will thereby turn the plate 43 inwardly to its initial position, while the lower end of said lever will draw the rod 45 and pin 46 outwardly to vary the leverage of the brake mechanism for decreasing the power of the brakes. The pin 46 passes through a slot in the lever 48 and may thereby be moved by the rod 45. The plate 43 of Fig. 2 corresponds with the plate 21 of Fig. 1 both in construction and operation, and I present Fig. 2 merely to indicate that my invention is applicable to a box coal-car as Well as to a steel hopper-car. It is obvious that the connections intermediate the hinged plate and brake mechanism will vary in accordance with the shape of the car and other circumstances, and hence I do not limit my invention in every instance to any special arrangement of connectionsintermediatethe movable plate and the brake mechanism.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a car, the car-body having a brakecylinder and connections,and a movable plate carried by the car-body and to be moved in one direction by the substance loaded into the car-body, combined with means intermediate said plate and the brake connections for varying the leverage of said connections; substantially as set forth.

2. In a car, the car-body having a brake cylinderand connections,and a movable plate carried by the car-body and to be moved in one direction by the substance loaded into the car-body, combined with means for automatically moving said plate in the other direction when the car is unloaded, and means intermediate said plate and the brake connections for varying the leverage of said connections; substantially as set forth.

3. In a car, the car-body having a brakecylinderandconnections, and a hinged plate carried by said body in a position to expose it to the action of the substance loaded into the car, whereby said plate may be moved in one direction by such substance, combined with means intermediate said plate and the brake connections for varying the leverage of said connections; substantially as set forth.

4. In a car, the car-body having a brakecylinder and'connections, and a hinged plate carried by said body in a position to expose it to the action of the substance loaded into the car, whereby said plate may be moved in one direction by such substance, combined with a spring for moving said plate in the other direction when the car is unloaded,and means intermediate said plate and the brake connections for varying the leverage of said connections substantially as set forth.

5. In a car, the car-body having a brakecylinder and connections, and also having an opening in it below the line of the load, and a movable plate carried by the car-body and adapted under the pressure of the load to be moved in one direction and close over said opening, combined with a spring for moving said plate in the other direction when the car. is unloaded, and means intermediate said plate and the brake connections for varying the leverage of said connections; substantially as set forth.

6. In a car, the car-body having a brakecylinder and connections, and the movable plate carried by the car-body and adapted to be moved in one direction by the pressure of the substance loaded into the car; combined with means for moving said plate in the other direction when the car is unloaded, the cylinder-lever having a movable fulcrum, and means intermediate said fulcrum and said plate for transmitting the movementof said plate to said fulcrum; substantially as set forth.

Signed at Albany, in the county of Albany and State of New York, this 13th day of August, A. D. 1903.

FRANK W. OHAFFEE. WVitnesses:

FREDERICK W. CAMERON, LOTTIE PRIOR. 

